Curated Intel from the Talent Tech Industry
July 29-August 4, 2024:
• Announcing a new sheriff in town: The EU Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act) is now in force;
• Walking a tightrope: Recruitonomics reports U.S. labor market moves from tight to balanced;
• Betting on beds and meals: Gigpro lands $16M Series A to transform hospitality labor market;
• Asking where’s the beef: Big Tech earnings fail to convince Wall Street that AI is paying off;
• Sharing the angst: New York Times reports HR people hate HR as much as everyone else.
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The European Commission announced that the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act) is now in force
Fast facts for the watercooler: It's the world's first comprehensive AI law. While not the first AI-related regulation, the EU AI Act is often described as the first comprehensive AI law due to its extensive scope and detailed requirements. It introduces a "risk-based approach." The Act categorizes AI systems by risk level: unacceptable risk (prohibited), high risk, limited risk, and minimal risk. It enforces significant non-compliance penalties. For the most serious breaches, non-compliance can result in severe penalties, up to €35 million or 7% of annual turnover (for comparison, severe GDPR violations can result in penalties of up to €20 million or 4% of annual turnover). All stakeholders have responsibilities. The Act outlines distinct obligations for providers, deployers, importers, and distributors to ensure compliance.
U.S. Labor Market Moves From Tight to Balanced
The labor market is rapidly shifting from tight to balanced as businesses have scaled back their appetite for hiring. As the Federal Reserve decided on Wednesday to keep interest rates at their current level, pressure will continue to mount to reduce rates in September to ease this softening labor market. The question is no longer when they will cut rates, but by how much. The U.S. economy added just 114,000 new jobs last month, with a net negative revision of 29,000 combined for May and June’s data. The three-month average for job growth is now below 170,000, the lowest in the post-pandemic recovery. Not only has the pace of job growth cooled, but the unemployment rate has steadily risen – now at 4.3%.
Gigpro Secures $16M Series A Financing Round to Transform Hospitality Labor Market
Gigpro, a leading on-demand labor marketplace for the hospitality industry, announced today that it has closed a $16 million Series A funding round led by Foundry, with participation from Stage 1 Ventures and existing investors Stage 2 Capital and Detroit Venture Partners. This milestone marks a significant step forward in Gigpro's mission to revolutionize the gig economy by connecting businesses with skilled independent professionals efficiently and seamlessly. In just three years, Gigpro has distinguished itself as the leading labor marketplace dedicated to the hospitality industry and recently became the fastest growing company in South Carolina. The infusion of capital will enable Gigpro to expand its platform and enhance its technological capabilities, while continuing to provide exceptional value to both businesses and gig workers.
Big Tech fails to convince Wall Street that AI is paying off
Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. had one job heading into this earnings season: show that the billions of dollars they’ve each sunk into the infrastructure propelling the artificial intelligence boom is translating into real sales. In the eyes of Wall Street, they disappointed. Shares in Google owner Alphabet have fallen more than 6% since it reported last week. Microsoft has declined in the three days since its own results. Amazon, the latest to drop its earnings on Thursday, fell almost 9% Friday. Silicon Valley hailed 2024 as the year that companies would begin to deploy generative AI, the type of technology that can create text, images and videos from simple prompts. This mass adoption is meant to finally bring about meaningful profits from the likes of Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot. The fact that those returns have yet to meaningfully materialize is stoking broader concerns about how worthwhile AI will really prove to be.
So, Human Resources Is Making You Miserable?
Show of hands: Who’s fed up with human resources? Maybe you’re irked by the endless flow of memos and forms, many of which need to be filled out, pronto. Maybe you’re irritated by new initiatives that regularly emerge from H.R., which never seems to run out of new initiatives, not all of them necessary or especially wise, in your opinion. Or you’ve got some problem with management and you don’t trust that H.R. representatives will actually help. They sure are friendly, but they get paid by the suits. In a crunch, it’s pretty clear whose side they are on. The H.R. department bugs a lot of employees and managers, and it seems to have more detractors than ever since the pandemic began. That’s when H.R. began to administer rules about remote work and pay transparency, programs to improve diversity, equity and inclusion and everything else that has rattled and changed the workplace in the last four years. But if the H.R. department is bothering you, here’s a fact you might find perversely consoling: You are not as aggravated or bummed out as the people who work in H.R.
The Extraordinary Value Proposition of TAtech Europe
Get both worldclass content and business-building connections at TAtech Europe & The EMEA Job Board Forum. Register right now for the only conference in the EMEA market that is specifically designed both for job board and talent technology company CEOs, their direct reports and rising stars and to accelerate the bottom-line growth of their enterprises. Why the rush? Because the conference will be held September 17-19, 2024 in Paris at Cercle National des Armées, and it has a limited seating capacity. Whether your company is a niche or general job board, aggregator, talent marketplace, online classifieds business, programmatic platform, chatbot, conversational AI solution, ATS, recruitment marketing solution, CRM platform, interviewing or assessment system or talent technology consultancy, this event will supercharge your sales and your profits. So, register today and accelerate the success your company achieves, today, tomorrow and into the future!